


still

by spells



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, KRTSK Fluff Week 2018, M/M, Stargazing, late night walks, prompt, slurpees
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 15:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17046488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spells/pseuds/spells
Summary: This is sappy, cheesy, corny – Kei tells himself. This is ridiculous. Why did he even say yes.





	still

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!!!!! tackling two prompts for today's fic~~ i have to say so much of this was inspired by the webcomic Always Raining Here so, you should go check that out! there's a link in the endnotes!
> 
> **day two:** ~~cats and dinosaurs~~ | _late night walks | stargazing_

According to the clock on Kei’s lock screen, it is exactly eleven forty-three at night, on a Thursday evening. Which loosely translates to, he is supposed to be sound asleep, buried under one or two blankets, windows open just to alleviate the hot summer night.

As you can guess, he is not in that situation. Quite far from it, in fact.

Instead, he has a hand in his boyfriend’s, and they’re walking in town, the dead downtown of a small town close to midnight. The sky is gorgeous above them, bluish black and scattered with stars, the moon staring down at them thick and full.

This is sappy, cheesy, corny – Kei tells himself. This is ridiculous. Why did he even say yes.

Kuroo turns, and they end up close, only their arms and hands between them. Kei can feel Kuroo’s breath as he speaks, and see every flick of glowing brown in his gorgeous, golden eyes.

“Slurpees,” he says, as if that means anything. Kei raises one confused eyebrow, feeling his cheeks dust pink, and Kuroo rolls his eyes, like Kei’s stupid. “Good or bad idea?”

As much as Kei isn’t really one to cheer on his boyfriend’s stupid ideas, it is extremely hot, and he hasn’t had a Slurpee in a while. Plus, he did remember to bring some cash, and there’ll be air-conditioning in 7-Eleven. Maybe it’s just the nighttime, or the adrenaline, or everything about what they’re doing right now, but this specific stupid idea doesn’t actually feel all that stupid.

“Good,” he answers, and it’s worth it just to see the reckless grin that spreads across Kuroo’s face.

To thank him, Kuroo kisses him, and it’s lovely. They can’t get caught up in it, at least not now, but that doesn’t make it any less pleasant. Kei doesn’t think it’ll ever become bad, no matter how much they do it. They’ve done it a lot already, and it’s still quite a fantastic thing. It’s still the thing that they do to cheer each other up, when words fail. And, well, in other occasions, too. For other purposes.

Their pace quickens as they establish a goal, and start walking towards 7-Eleven. Not a lot of places are open at this hour – most closed at eleven, tops. But sure enough, there are a few 24-hour stores and spots. Mostly, the few fast-food franchises, the drugstore, and of course, the 7-Eleven, closer to the edge of town.

It is a bit spooky, walking on the empty streets, no cars and no people, not even some wind to accompany the two of them. Kuroo, however, keeps talking and gesturing, and never lets go of Kei’s hand. That is nice, and that relaxes him, soothes him. Just Kuroo’s presence lights up the whole town. He doesn’t worry when he has him next to him, like that. There is nothing to worry about, really (except the possibility of his folks finding out about this late-night outing of his). He can just hear Kuroo’s voice and relax, the way he always can in his company.

The 7-Eleven lights up the street more effectively than the blinking, orangey-yellow lampposts that help break apart the darkness meanwhile not actually doing all that much. The stark white light that peeks through the glass windows from the shop, on the other hand, creates sharp shadows and reflects on the post office across the street. Kei blinks a few times when he enters the store, the floor reflecting the white like it’s snow.

Aside from the two of them after they enter, the only other person – or organic being, take it as you will – in the place is the cashier girl, a twenty-something kid with straight black hair and tired eyes. She greets them shortly, barely waving, and keeps reading her book without even raising her eyes. It makes Kei wonder a bit, whether she’s a college dropout or a never-been, whether she came back to their small town after graduation, whether she’s here just for the summer.

Not that he has the time to hesitate and think about it: Kuroo pulls him away, towards the Slurpee station, where he stares down all the soda flavors and tries to figure out which will taste the best frozen. This is far from Kei’s specialty, considering how he is not a huge fan of soda or any artificial drinks of the sort, so after a minute of frowning, he taps Kuroo reassuringly on the shoulder. “I trust you can choose the one that’s best for me, Tetsu.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll be taking a look at the other stuff. Take your time.”

Kuroo pouts for a moment, and smiles right after. After a second of hesitation and feeling his face grow a little warm under the freezing air-conditioning, Kei leaves him with a kiss on the cheek, and walks over to the candy aisles.

He doesn’t browse them seriously, not all that interesting. He considers taking a Snickers or some Mars bars, something sweet to munch on later or some other day. It seems like a great idea, since he is running out of candy at home, and he is definitely a sweets guy. Eventually, he gives up on it, deciding to save his money for something else, some other time. He’s already going to have a Slurpee, anyway.

Like he’s on some imaginary cue, Kuroo walks up to him as soon as he decides not to buy anything. He’s carrying two big, brightly colored cups with the regular Slurpee logo, his own being dark brown – probably Coke – and Kei’s a smooth, although artificial, red.

“Cherry Coke?” Kei frowns, taking the cup and slurping a bit. Definitely cherry.

“Just Cherry, in fact. They were out of Strawberry, so I was stuck between this and Mountain Dew, but I figure this is second-best? Mountain Dew isn’t all that good as a Slurpee, anyway.”

“This is great. Thanks.”

They walk up to the cashier and pay quickly, the girl staring them down for a second and handling the rest of the situation without taking her eyes off her book. It makes Kei wonder what is it that she’s reading, that is that interesting. He doesn’t ask, of course, but he still wonders.

Now, they’re hands-full – both with one hand carrying the drink, and one hand in the other’s -, and they walk a little clumsily down the street, Kuroo’s paces too long and Kei’s paces too quick. It makes them laugh, starting up a thousand new topics for conversation. One thing takes to another, swiftly, without even having to stop and think about it.

And listen, Kei loves this. He really does. He feels calm, truly at peace. It doesn’t make much sense, being so different to Kuroo, usually hating listening to people – or being with people, in general. This situation is everything except something he commonly likes to do. He’s not even following rules, not even being organized and proper! Still, still, it’s lovely. Still.

He gets a bit too lost in thought at that, though, and Kuroo stops what he was talking about – something about gaming, or Kenma, maybe volleyball, Kei isn’t sure – to stop and look at him, pulling him until he turns and they’re facing each other. He slurps his drink loudly until he gets Kei to snort.

“Anything wrong, baby?” Kuroo tilts his head, and nudges his foot with his own.

Kei punches him lightly on the shoulder at the pet name, because it makes him red. “No. Just thinking.”

“Are you tired? Again, sorry for getting you out of bed so late,” he pouts, and Kei shakes his head, rolling his eyes.

“I’m fine. Just thinking, really.”

“Mm, I don’t know if I believe you. But that’s fine! All right,” Kuroo jiggles his shoulders, making the word ‘all’ go on for many seconds longer than it had to. “Do you want to do something else?”

“It’s-” Kei lets go of Kuroo’s hand for a second, and digs his phone out of his back pocket. Now, the clock reads nineteen past midnight, so he shoves it in his boyfriend’s face and keeps talking, “-nineteen past, and literally everything is closed, Tetsurou.”

“7-Eleven isn’t.”

“We’ve done that already. What do you suggest we do, considering there’s nothing to do?”

“Well…” Kuroo trails off, and sighs suggestively, a smirk growing on his lips. Kei puts his phone back and raises one eyebrow, completely distrusting of whatever is to come. “It is night. We can… Stargaze, maybe?”

Stupid, mean – Kei starts in his head. Sappy, cheesy, corny. Most specifically, his weak spot.

“Okay,” he mumbles, and Kuroo grins like an idiot. The idiot he is, really. He tugs him by the hand and they walk until they reach a patch of grass, next to the only coffee shop in town.

Kuroo tumbles down, his drink somehow not spilling all over the grass and himself. He almost pulls Kei with him, too, but he makes sure to stand a step away and let go of his hand before he throws himself on the ground. It makes Kuroo pout, sure, but it’s so much better to carefully and calmly lie down, making sure he doesn’t stain literally all his clothes like his boyfriend had. It also helps to be able to position himself, wary not to spill the Slurpee, and resting his head on Kuroo’s shoulder so much so that he fits within that arm, pressed tight against him, stupidly soft.

The stars blink as if they’re watching them right back, twinkling and glimmering. Kei thinks he can spot a few planets too, brighter and constant, but he’s never been sure. He loves the stars, loves the sky, but never memorized constellations. He’s always put other things first, he guesses. He could’ve made time for something like this, but he never did.

There are very few clouds in the night sky, only a few blurs of muted gray that flutter fast, even if it’s not windy or cold. It’s definitely not windy or cold, Kei remarks to himself, slurping a bit of his drink and wishing it wasn’t crazy warm. Well, not that it’s as warm as it is during the day, but still. A bothersome amount of heat.

Either way, this is comfortable. Even with the grass prickling his skin through his shirt, and the heat, and the kind of awkward position he’s in. He wonders, for a second, if he’s making Kuroo’s arm go numb. He hopes not – he likes this. So many bad things to it, but still so good.

“Did I ever tell you,” Kuroo starts, voice quiet and calm.

“No,” Kei interrupts, and gets a slap to the arm. It makes him giggle, “Sorry, go on.”

“Did I ever tell you that, when I was little, I wanted to live in the stars? I didn’t just want to be an astronaut. I mean, this was when I was very, very little – a couple of years passed and I was already crazy for volleyball. Like now. But I wanted to fly away and be in the stars, because they were cooler than here. I thought everything was so boring down here.”

Kei hums, something warm spurring in his chest. He’s glad that Kuroo tells him things, about himself. It makes him feel special, as stupid as that it.

“I guess Oikawa never grew out of that, huh?”

Kei giggles, and shifts so that he’s lying on his side, facing Kuroo even if he’s on his back. Being literally close makes Kei feel like he’s close to Kuroo in all ways, and he guesses he is. They share things with each other, and all of that. They are close. Although Kei doesn’t usually allow himself, he has. He exhales slowly, and kisses Kuroo’s shoulder. It makes him tighten his hold around him, and turn his head to meet his gaze.

For a moment, they just look at each other.

“I love you,” Kei whispers, and he has never felt that sentence as heavy as he does now. They’ve exchanged it before, said those three little words and then those four – I love you, too -, but still. He feels like they are real, now. Palpable.

When Kuroo smiles, it’s his soft smile. Small, and true, with no edge of sarcasm or meanness. Happy, happy, happy. Profoundly genuine. Kei doesn’t think many people get to see that smile, even if he’s smiling all the time. He holds that one like a precious gem, and close to his heart. It shines bright. No glowing ball of gas can ever shine brighter than Kuroo in that moment, Kei thinks, flushing at his own thought. He’s so precious, so important.

“I love you too,” he murmurs, and kisses Kei’s forehead like he is, also, his own precious thing.

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/karasunya)  
> [always raining here](http://alwaysraininghere.com/)
> 
> thank you very much for reading - kudos, comments, bookmarks, the whole thing is v appreciated. see you tomorrow!


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